Ukraine-Russia latest: North Korea vows to back Putin’s war as US claims thousands of troops prepare for battle

Large North Korean troop casualties in Ukraine or Russia would be a major political blow for the country’s 40-year-old ruler, Kim Jong Un.

But experts say Mr Kim may see this as a way to get much needed foreign currency and security support from Russia in return for joining the war.

“Kim Jong Un is taking a big gamble. If there are no large casualty numbers, he will get what he wants to some extent. But things will change a lot if many of his soldiers die in battle,” Ahn Chan-il, a former North Korean army first lieutenant who leads the World Institute for North Korean Studies, told the Associated Press.

A Russian air attack on Kyiv damaged buildings, roads and several power lines in the city, the capital’s military administration said early on Sunday, after the military said air defences were trying to repel a drone attack.

There were no injuries in the attack, which came in waves and approached the city from different directions, Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Popko said there was no fire, amending the administration’s earlier account that emergency crews had been dispatched to the site of a fire in the Shevchenkivskyi district that it said had been caused by the attack.

It was Russia’s second drone attack on Kyiv in as many nights. According to preliminary information, all of the attack drones were destroyed, Popko added. It was not immediately clear how many drones were launched at Kyiv.

Falling drone debris damaged an entrance and windows of at least five buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi and Holosiivskyi districts, including a hostel and windows in an office building, Popko said.

The military posted several photos on Telegram showing a blown-out entrance to a building, damaged windows in another and power lines lying on the road.

Reuters witnesses reported hearing blasts and seeing plumes of smoke rising from above residential buildings.

Shevchenkivskyi district near Kyiv’s centre is a busy area with a cluster of universities, restaurants and tourist attractions. Holosiivskyi district is home to a large national park. Both districts lie on the western bank of the Dnipro River.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and the vast majority of the eastern half of Ukraine were intermittently under air raid alerts for most of the night, according to alerts issued on social media by the Ukrainian military.

A Russian air attack on Kyiv damaged buildings, roads and several power lines in the city, the capital’s military administration said early on Sunday, after the military said air defences were trying to repel a drone attack.

There were no injuries in the attack, which came in waves and approached the city from different directions, Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Popko said there was no fire, amending the administration’s earlier account that emergency crews had been dispatched to the site of a fire in the Shevchenkivskyi district that it said had been caused by the attack.

It was Russia’s second drone attack on Kyiv in as many nights. According to preliminary information, all of the attack drones were destroyed, Popko added. It was not immediately clear how many drones were launched at Kyiv.

Falling drone debris damaged an entrance and windows of at least five buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi and Holosiivskyi districts, including a hostel and windows in an office building, Popko said.

The military posted several photos on Telegram showing a blown-out entrance to a building, damaged windows in another and power lines lying on the road.

Reuters witnesses reported hearing blasts and seeing plumes of smoke rising from above residential buildings.

Shevchenkivskyi district near Kyiv’s centre is a busy area with a cluster of universities, restaurants and tourist attractions. Holosiivskyi district is home to a large national park. Both districts lie on the western bank of the Dnipro River.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and the vast majority of the eastern half of Ukraine were intermittently under air raid alerts for most of the night, according to alerts issued on social media by the Ukrainian military.

Moldovans vote on Sunday in a presidential runoff that has been overshadowed by election meddling allegations and could see Moscow gain more influence in a diplomatic battleground between Russia and the European Union.

Pro-Western incumbent Maia Sandu, who has accelerated the southeast European nation’s push to leave Moscow’s orbit and join the EU, faces Alexandr Stoianoglo, an ex-prosecutor general backed by the pro-Russian Socialist Party.

The fortunes of Ms Sandu, who set Moldova on the long path of EU accession talks in June, will be closely followed in Brussels a week after Georgia, another ex-Soviet state hoping to join, re-elected a ruling party seen as increasingly pro-Russian.

Mr Stoianoglo says that as president he too would back EU integration but also develop ties with Russia in the national interest. He has vowed to try to revive cheap Russian gas supplies and said he would meet with president Vladimir Putin if Moldovans wanted it.

The outcome of the vote is likely to set the tone for next summer’s parliamentary elections where Sandu’s ruling party is expected to struggle to retain its majority and which will determine the stripe of the future government.

The thousands of young soldiers North Korea has sent to Russia, reportedly to help fight against Ukraine, are mostly elite special forces, but that hasn’t stopped speculation they’ll be slaughtered because they have no combat experience, no familiarity with the terrain and will likely be dropped onto the most ferocious battlefields.

That may be true, and soon. Observers say the troops are already arriving at the front. From the North Korean perspective, however, these soldiers might not be as miserable as outsiders think.

They may, in fact, view their Russian tour with pride and as a rare chance to make good money, see a foreign country for the first time, and win preferred treatment for their families back home, according to former North Korean soldiers.

Read the full report here.

A US citizen who was spirited out of eastern Ukraine by Russian special forces after helping the Kremlin target Ukrainian troops said in Moscow on Saturday he had asked for Russian citizenship.

“My name is Daniel Martindale,” he told a press conference, state media reported.

“Here is my passport. It went through the war with me, you can see in what condition it is,” he said in English, holding up what appeared to be a well-used US passport and birth certificate.

He said he was under no duress, wanted to receive Russian citizenship and predicted Russia would win the war in Ukraine.

The US embassy in Moscow did not immediately comment.

Mr Martindale, who said he had worked as a missionary, said he entered Ukraine from Poland in early 2022, just days before president Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine.

“I’ve wanted to go to Russia for a long time, I realized that this is the moment I’ve been waiting for,” he was quoted as saying.

An unidentified Russian intelligence source quoted by the RIA state news agency said Mr Martindale had supplied information to Russian forces about the location of key Ukrainian infrastructure for two years.

Russia has armed North Korean troops deployed on the frontlines with infantry weapons, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) said.

Soldiers have been armed with 60-mm mortars, AK-12 rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, Feniks anti-tank guided missiles, and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, it said.

The troops have also reportedly received night vision devices, thermal imagers, collimator sights, and binoculars.

The agency reported that Russia has deployed over 7,000 North Korean troops from Primorsky Krai to the Ukrainian border.

This number closely matches Washington’s recent announcement. US secretary of state Antony Blinken stated earlier this week that around 8,000 North Korean troops are stationed in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine initiated a cross-border incursion in August and continues to hold substantial territory.

According to HUR, North Korea has sent nearly 12,000 troops to Russia, including 500 officers and three generals. The soldiers are reportedly undergoing training at five military camps in Russia’s Far East.

Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that lasted into late morning and wounded at least one person, city officials said on Saturday.

Debris from downed drones struck six city districts, wounding a police officer, damaging residential buildings and starting fires, according to city military administrator Serhiy Popko.

Mayor Vitalii Klitschko had earlier reported that two people had been injured.

“Another night. Another air-raid alert. Another drone attack. The armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked Kyiv again according to their old and familiar tactics,” Popko wrote on social media.

He said all the drones aimed at Kyiv had been shot down, but warned that others currently located in airspace outside the city could turn toward the capital.

Reuters correspondents reported hearing explosions in and around the city during an air-raid alert that lasted more than five hours.

Russia has carried out regular airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind the front lines of the war which began when Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

Kyiv’s military said on Friday that Moscow’s forces had launched more than 2,000 drones at civilian and military targets across Ukraine in October alone.

Russia has denied aiming at civilians and said power facilities are legitimate targets when they are part of Ukrainian military infrastructure.

Kyiv called on Moscow on Sunday to provide a list of Ukrainian prisoners of war ready for a swap after Russia accused Ukraine of sabotaging the exchange process.

In requesting the list of Ukrainians from his Russian counterpart, Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets wrote on his Telegram messaging channel: “We are always ready to exchange prisoners of war!”

Kyiv and Moscow have frequently exchanged prisoners since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor in 2022. The last swap took place in mid-October with each side bringing home 95 prisoners.

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Ukraine was essentially sabotaging the process and has refused to take back its own citizens.

Ms Zakharova said Russia’s defence ministry had offered to hand over 935 Ukrainian prisoners of war but that Ukraine had taken only 279.

Mr Lubinets, in turn, said that Ukraine was always ready to accept its citizens and accused Russia of slowing down the exchange process.

Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova said on Saturday that Ukraine has “politicised” the issue.

“We consider it necessary to return to a constructive dialogue and speed up the exchange of prisoners,” Ms Moskalkova wrote on Telegram.